In title and form the recent Alpine A110 borrows from the company’s finest acknowledged motor vehicle. But the original A110 from the 1960s and ’70s isn’t the firm’s only sports activities car or truck worth chatting about. You may have read about the GTA and its A610 evolution that Alpine pitched as Porsche 911 rivals in the 1980s and 1990s. But sandwiched in between the One-Ten and GTA, and too-frequently overlooked, is the A310.
Contemplating it produced its debut at the identical 1971 Geneva show that gave the planet its initial search at the Lamborghini Countach LP500 prototype, the A310 is almost certainly quite utilized to being disregarded. It didn’t assistance that Alpine ongoing to marketing campaign its before A110 in international rallying following the A310’s introduction, and it was the A110, and not the new A310, that won the 1973 Monte Carlo Rally and that year’s Planet Rally Championship.
But the A310’s handsome wedge styling and flush headlights were being a superior fit for the angular fashions of the 1970s and interval testers commented on the good managing, which shouldn’t occur as much of a surprise presented that less than the fiberglass pores and skin it utilized a equivalent backbone chassis and rear-mounted motor to its predecessor.
Linked: Alpine A110 Owner Gets Ticket For Rushing On A… Truck Mattress
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Sad to say, those people early autos value as substantially as a Porsche 911 and weren’t as quick with only a 125 hp (127 PS) 4-cylinder 1.6-liter Renault motor to force them along. The slippery aerodynamics gave a good 128 mph (206 km/h) prime velocity, but zero to 60 mph (96 km/h) in 8.6 seconds wasn’t going to established any velocity, or product sales, information.
For 1976 though, the A310 bought major about having on the 911. Robert Opron, the French designer dependable for stunners like the Citroën GS, SM and CX, was drafted in to tweak the styling, and Alpine’s engineers, now working for Renault adhering to Alpine’s choose-above, dropped in a new 2.7-liter PRV V6, the final result of a joint undertaking by Peugeot, Renault and Citroën, whose initials gave the 90-diploma motor its title.
Power increased to 148 hp (150 PS) and torque did even far better out of the offer, jumping from 98 lb-ft (133 Nm) to 150 lb-ft (203 Nm). The operate to 62 mph now took 7.2 seconds and the prime speed grew to around 135 mph (217 km/h), which was excellent plenty of to put it degree with an entry-amount 911 from the mid-1970s that offered the exact capability and ability.
Sales apparently enhanced as a result of the adjustments, but these automobiles are continue to reasonably uncommon nowadays. The example pictured right here was purchased as a barn-find in Germany in 2004 and then handled to a floor-up restoration in the British isles where by the Alpine Entrepreneurs Club estimates it is one particular of only 20 remaining on the street. It is now up for sale on the Collecting Vehicles auction site.
It is really hard do the job out no matter if our favorite attribute is the giant V6 graphic on every rear fender established towards the Electric powered Blue paint, the re-upholstered tombstone seats or the 15-inch break up rim wheels with their quirky 3-lug centers. But it could possibly just be that whatever this awesome slice of French sports activities motor vehicle historical past sells for it is likely to be tens of 1000’s a lot less than you’d spend for a same-classic Porsche 911.